First time to Watkins Glen
 

I have to say this is quite an intimidating track with many scary guard rails but you can also feel lots of history in this place. Day 1 didn't start off so good in terms of track time, first session was short, 2nd was black flagged, 4th was held up due to a red flag incident. They also lumped me in run group 1 which has all the fastest cars which made learning a little more difficult but at least gave me something to aim for.

Day 2 was a lot better. Two good practice sessions, took an instructor along to observe and see where I could pick up time. He made a few good comments at the end and the next session I was down to 2:13.1 on a fairly clean lap in a little traffic.

I was staged fairly late in the time trial so I had a bit of sitting around to do which can break your concentration. They call our group to stage and again we are waiting quite a while as we have to wait for 2 groups to complete before we go on track. I'm staged behind my racing buddies new Boss 302 Laguna Seca with an American Iron car behind and an AC Cobra up front. Finally we make it to pit lane for the launch and you start to get a little amped up. We only get about 1/4 of a lap as the warm up as they are running timing just before the bus stop in order to save time on out laps and in laps. But once driving it all starts to come together, 2:14, 2:12 and final lap was 2:11.919 with a pretty big error near the end. From pit wall the time was 2:11.7, and as a first timer there I was pretty pleased with that. Beat my friend in his C6 by 0.1 seconds and placed in the top 10 overall, less than 1 second slower than the GT-R.

Looks like a lot of fun! Wish I could do that

nice run, killed me by 10 sec or something

its hard to see from the video, but your car just sticks like glue in the corner. you were going in a few good mph faster at every corner. i dont know if it is your skill or tires, but i couldnt touch those cornering speed without ending up in the wall. madness, great job

Very nice driving, incredibly smooth. So much armco around that track... Looks like if you screw up you're almsot guaranteed to be in the wall. That has to make you nervous.

Damn that looked like fun! I might have to do a track day at Mosport. The Glen would blow my mind!

Tires are everything at this track, the wide V710's were sticking very nicely. Best time on the Nitto's was 2:16 and on the RE-11's I think was just sub 2:20 so really I was only 2 seconds faster than you with a lot more car setup :)

The Armco is very intimidating. It took me a long time to build up to the proper speed for a few of the more scary corners such as 6, and 11. If you watch the video closely you'll see my f'up at around 7:15 going up the esses. I was too abrupt going from the right turn to the left turn at 110 mph and got the car a little loose and hopped the curb on the inside. In the video all you'll see if the car go a little left and a bit of a back off on the gas, but I think I pooped my pants a little. Fortunately it didn't totally destroy my lap but probably cost me a few tenths.

Yeah, Glen is all about tires. The slicks on the long sweeping turns require tires. Good run nonetheless, I still need tons of work to catch up to you.

Damn how many sets of tires do you carry to the track?

awesome run!

Five, although 2 sets weren't mine :) Some guys bring 4 sets or more so I don't feel too bad. If I decide to take the car off the road next year and go full race with it then the RE-11's will be dumped and replaced with Hoosier Wets. Damn tires are too expensive.

That event gave me the SPB class championship with COM with 1 event still left to go. 2 missed events, four 1sts and one 2nd.

I now have the ability to carry tires, but I am not sure if I am ready for another set of tires or track days. I am starting to have real fear of the track :( If I can get my mojo back, I will see what I can do on R6 as I am getting that regardless

Fear is a part of getting older and being responsible. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but you can't let it overcome you. You can still be very fast while being mindful and responsible, you just have to be very calculated. The best drivers in our club are 40+, they can beat just about anyone in their own car.

Nice run, Chris!

I haven't driven there yet... looks like a great high speed, fast transition track... agree those armco barriers are intimidating! not Nordschliefe but would give me pause until I learned the track

Very true. I am not so much afraid of the danger, I just don't want to be stuck with a $20k repair bill!! Plus I have had instances of mechanical breakdown and other drivers breaking down in front of me.

Oh yeah, the next time someone post about the best mod. I think the video says it all.

HPDE Track insurance. It's a little steep, but you can buy it for the year at a substantial discount for a given number of events.

To put that into perspective that people here can relate to. I was 0.6 seconds slower than the GT-R during the time trial, and he is a very good experienced driver. He was running tired R888's vs my V710's - I think that shows what tires are worth.

You looked awesome out there. I wish i had more track time w the tires i had on my car. i think i could have been in the high teens. Couple things i learned from that track. If you take turn 8 wide you can come out onto the last straight faster putting you drivers side tires off to the left of the cememt. Seems slower but it is actually faster. Also in turn 10 in you turn in a little later it feels a little smother and you can gain a mph or two. This is what i found in my car with tires and stock susp. Porb a lot different w coil and what not. But it might help you next time :tup:

qustion. going through the esses what gear where u in?